CHAPTER 60: NO NEED TO FEAR WHEN LADY YELENA IS HERE

Even now, especially now, Mika’s body was reacting in ways he didn’t dare voice. With Yelena pressed so tightly against him, he was undeniably, furiously turned on.

It was maddening. It was raw. And it was completely natural...Because no one could be in his place and not feel like this. Not with her body against his like that.

Her ass was driving him insane.

It wasn’t just soft, it was sinful. Plump and full in a way that pushed back against him like it had a mind of its own, each movement, each breath she took grinding her even deeper into him.

The warmth, the subtle sway, the weight of it, it was impossible to ignore. Her curves were perfectly shaped, perfectly placed, and perfectly pressed against the one place he was trying so hard to keep calm.

And yet...somehow...he wasn’t fully hard.

It was shocking, really. Anyone else would’ve been gone the moment her hips touched theirs. And not because he didn’t want her, hell no.

He did. He had always wanted her, ever since those complicated, chaotic feelings first bloomed inside him years ago.

But somewhere along the way, after all the years of struggling to bury those thoughts and trying to master the heat clawing through his body every time she smiled at him, he’d learned control...Real control.

He had learned how not to react on command.

How to mask desire so it wouldn’t ruin what they had.

But that didn’t mean the storm inside him wasn’t there...Because it was, roaring and relentless.

His hands may have been steady, but his heart wasn’t. It was thrumming wildly as he held her. Because this wasn’t just physical. It wasn’t just lust.

This was her. The woman who had always made him feel like the floor under him wasn’t solid. Who he couldn’t stop thinking about, even when he tried.

And right now he was burning and just as he was thinking of reciting some prayers in his mind to calm himself down, a voice suddenly rang out.

"Mika! Mika!"

Both Mika and Yelena jolted at the sound and heads turned up at the same time, eyes tracking the echo back to the side of the ship.

There, floating up through the mist and sea spray, was Charlotte.

No, dangling, rather. Her body suspended mid-air as she was being slowly reeled up by the sword hooked awkwardly around the back of her collar, tugging her toward the deck in a strange, clumsy arc.

It seemed the blade Yelena had thrown earlier had finally done its job, after all that chaos, it had found her daughter and was now hauling her back up to safety.

Seeing her, Mika exhaled deeply, the tension in his chest finally loosening. "Thank God...she’s alright."

But beside him, Yelena let out a sigh of a very different kind, a long, drawn-out groan as she pulled back slightly and turned her head in exaggerated annoyance.

"Of course she shows up now..."

Sure enough, Charlotte was sobbing by the time her face cleared the rail.

"W-What are you doing?!" She cried out between hiccupped gasps, arms flailing a little as she tried to grab onto the railing. "What are you doing?! Mama! How could you?!"

Her voice cracked, eyes wide with outrage and disbelief.

"You tripped me! You pushed me off! You were going to let me fall just to, just to take Mika for yourself?! That’s not what a mother is supposed to do!"

In response to her daughter’s outrage, Yelena leaned forward against the railing with a dramatic, fake-innocent blink, the picture of casual amusement.

Her lips curled ever so slightly, the very definition of smug as she said, "I have no idea what you’re talking about."

Charlotte looked like she might explode.

"Liar!" She shouted. "You, you did it on purpose! I saw you push me! I saw it! How can you lie like that?!"

She turned desperately to Mika, still crying, her voice cracking even harder. "You saw it, didn’t you? She pushed me, right?! Tell me she did!"

Mika stayed still, mouth slightly open, gaze flickering between them, entirely unsure what to say.

Yelena’s voice cut through the silence again, this time with a sing-song lilt as she rested her chin on her palm.

"Now, now. Is it really wise to accuse the only person holding you up right now?" She said sweetly. "I am the one keeping you alive, darling. Maybe you should be a little more...grateful."

Charlotte blinked, and suddenly realized she was still very much not on the ship yet.

She was still hanging from the blade, feet dangling helplessly below the deck, swinging slightly in the air like a confused, angry kitten caught in a tree.

"Wha—"

"And you know..." Yelena continued thoughtfully, eyes twinkling with faux innocence. "...swords can be so slippery sometimes. Who knows what might happen if my grip accidentally...falters?"

Her fingers flexed meaningfully as she gave the sword’s hilt a slight nudge.

Charlotte screamed, her legs kicking in panic.

"Mama!!"

"Hmm?" Yelena tilted her head. "What’s that? Were you saying something unkind just now?"

Charlotte gawked at her, fully appalled. "You’re bullying me! You’re bullying your own daughter while I’m still hanging off a sword! What kind of mother does this?!"

Yelena just offered her the smuggest smile in history. The very picture of composed cruelty wrapped in elegance.

"I told you." She said lightly. "I have no idea what you’re talking about."

But just as Charlotte was about to snap back with a loud protest, both Mika and Yelena abruptly turned around, their expressions suddenly darkening with a strange, quiet urgency.

Their gazes locked on something distant in the sky, their bodies tensing subtly, but Charlotte immediately caught the shift.

"Huh? What is it?" She asked, blinking as she stepped closer to them, confused by the sudden change in atmosphere. "Why are you ignoring me? What are you two looking at?"

She followed their gaze, scanning the distant skies, but there was nothing immediately noticeable to her. Nothing that explained their sudden unease.

"What’s going on?" She pressed, her voice rising slightly.

Yelena didn’t respond at first. She merely exhaled in quiet resignation and gave Mika a look, then turned her eyes back toward the horizon. A small, almost bitter smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

"One interruption after another." She murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "Seems like we’re not meant to have even a second to ourselves."

Then, without another word, she flicked her wrist.

A glowing portal split open in the air beside her, and from within it, a sword slowly slid out and floated in place, gleaming softly in the light.

Yelena stepped onto it with practiced ease, the blade supporting her like solid ground, and with a burst of magical propulsion, she shot off into the sky in the same direction she had been staring at.

Charlotte barely had time to register what happened. She stumbled a little before managing to climb fully onto the ship’s deck, scrambling to her feet with wide eyes.

"Where...Where’s Mama going?" She asked in confusion, looking toward Mika for answers. "Why is she flying off like that all of a sudden?"

Mika, who had now sat himself lazily on the edge of the boat, let out a low sigh and didn’t even look up.

"You don’t need to worry about that." He said flatly, staring out toward the clouds. "She’ll be back soon."

"Back? What do you mean back? What’s happening? Why won’t you just tell me?!"

He finally looked at her, his tone still indifferent.

"She has to take care of something. You know, being one of humanity’s protectors isn’t exactly a job with breaks."

But Charlotte wasn’t satisfied. Her frustration bubbling over, she stormed toward him and grabbed his sleeve, shaking it firmly. "No! I want to know, I want to know where she’s going right now!"

He stared at her for a long second. Then, with a shrug and a bored expression, he muttered, "Fine. Just open your phone. Go to a live news stream. Any major site will do. You’ll see it there."

Still flustered and upset, Charlotte fumbled to pull out her phone and opened one of the major news apps. Right at the top of the screen was a glowing red "LIVE EMERGENCY" banner. Her thumb hovered for a moment before she tapped it.

The screen immediately cut to a shaky live stream of the sky, a reporter’s voice trembling slightly with urgency as he too somehow was flying in the sky with the camera.

"This is a breaking emergency broadcast, just moments ago, a commercial plane flying over District 12’s airspace encountered a massive rift that opened mid-flight."

"One of its engines has been completely destroyed, and the left wing is heavily damaged. The plane is currently descending and may crash if emergency measures are not taken."

Charlotte’s eyes widened as the footage showed the actual plane, a passenger aircraft trailing smoke, one side clearly crumpled and sparking. It was losing altitude fast, barely holding together.

"What the...?" She muttered. "It seems like this just only just happened...So, how do they already have this on video?"

Mika leaned back on his hands, stretching a bit as if the whole thing was old news.

"Of course they do." He said. "News companies these days have scouts posted in every major zone. Blessed employees, E or D class blessed mostly, stationed across cities just to capture this kind of stuff."

"...Rifts can open up anywhere, so they’ve got people flying around 24/7 just waiting to catch it."

He yawned a little, before adding,

"Normal humans can’t get anywhere near a rift site without dying. So, they started hiring low-ranked blessed with flying abilities or support skills to film and report on scenes like this. Probably one of them is up there right now."

Back in the earlier decades of the era of disaster, the world was an absolute mess. Portals opened at random, monsters strolled through like they owned the place, and cities were often turned into battlegrounds overnight.

During that time, nearly every blessed individual, no matter how low-ranked, was thrust into combat roles. Whether it was clearing dungeons, fighting back beast waves, scavenging for rift-born resources, or holding defensive lines, everyone was expected to contribute.

Even the weakest were expected to train or support stronger blessed on the frontlines.

But now?...Things had changed.

Rifts were no longer erratic and were mostly controlled. The global management networks had developed containment barriers, scheduled entrance openings, and even city-wide alert systems.

The age of random chaos had largely ended.

And in this more stable era, lower-ranked blessed, especially those with non-combat skills, started finding their niches outside the battlefield.

The media sector, for instance, paid handsomely for live aerial footage near rift sites. Others moved into the medical field, using their powers for healing and regeneration.

Some took positions in education, acting as live demonstrations or defense instructors.

Some worked in infrastructure, using their enhanced strength or elemental control for construction.

Even factories now had specialized jobs that only blessed could do efficiently.

Sectors that once had nothing to do with combat had become new havens for the underutilized.

As Charlotte watched the broadcast, eyes fixed on the floating figure filming from above, she tilted her head slightly.

"Speaking of districts..." She murmured, narrowing her eyes at the surrounding terrain on the screen. "Isn’t the place they mentioned really close to us?"

Her voice trailed off and just as she turned to Mika to ask, the voice on the stream spoke again, this time with growing alarm.

"Wait...there seems to be a new disturbance coming our way. A high-speed projectile...no, no, it looks humanoid, but we can’t confirm, hold on, we’re zooming in—"

The camera feed trembled as the flying blessed tried to steady the shot. At first, it was just a dot.

But then the shape grew larger...Closer.

And then the voice from the reporter, usually calm and composed, suddenly squeaked with uncontainable excitement.

"Ah! Oh! No, there’s absolutely no need to panic, everyone! In fact, rejoice!"

"It’s none other than Her Excellency, one of the goddesses who saved humanity, Lady Yelena!!"

The mic nearly dropped from the hands of the excited blessed, the screen jerking sideways briefly as the flying operator, who was controlling the camera and reporting at the same time jumped slightly in awe.

And seeing who was approaching on screen, Charlotte’s eyes widened in joy and excitement at the familiar figure she could recognise a mile away.

"Mama!" She cried. "It’s Mama! So that’s where she ran off to! No wonder she looked so serious! She went off to save the world just like she’s always does!"